Of the 749 RA participants, 156 (20.8%) had rheumatoid nodules; these patients had more comparable ages at disease onset than did those without nodules but were more likely to have longer disease duration, a smoking history, higher HAQ scores, increased presence of joint-space narrowing and of autoantibodies, and higher levels of CRP (Table 1). The gene discussed is CRP; the disease is rheumatoid arthritis.